I saw a report on TV the other night stating that "our" generation is staying home with our parents well into our 20s and even our 30s. The suggestion was the we are mooching off our parents, but I say it's not our fault.
When our parents were our age (and younger) they married earlier and lived happily on a single family income. The fact is that house prices in those days were much, much more affordable.
We have a situation now where executive power couples (DINKS) are pushing real-estate prices up. Families on single incomes struggle to find an affordable first home so they can break into the housing market. Single people traditionally rent and don't consider buying their first home until ... well, until it's too late.
6 years ago I had enough money saved for a down payment on a small apartment but I moved to Japan for a few years to experience life in a different culture and decided to horde my savings. I didn't know anything about real estate and didn't understand how difficult things would become when I was looking for a home at the age of 32, no longer working and raising a small child on my husband's single income.
If I had bought a small apartment and rented it out while I was overseas I would have returned to a partially-paid mortgage on an investment that had increased in value. In other words, I would have already taken a step on the bottom rung of the real-estate ladder, but being single and young (I was 26) I didn't see the urgency.
Now I understand all too well.
When Jude is older and looking at moving out of home for the first time, my advice to him will be to buy a small studio apartment or an empty warehouse or a shoebox if that's what it takes, anything to get him on that bottom housing rung. I'll do everything in my power to help him.
Personally I think it will be a better investment if I helped him on a down payment for a small studio apartment than to have him mooch off me until he's 35. I really wish my parents had given me that same advice and helped me find and manage an investment property, but I guess "their" generation doesn't understand how hard it is for us. I vow not to let this happen to Jude.
Wednesday 1 July 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I also wish I had bought back when housing prices weren't so insane. Now housing prices are about ten times an average income. Thirty years ago they were about three times an average income.
I've noticed that the people I know who own homes are the ones who haven't travelled and who got married very early. So at the same time as I really wish I had a home now, I don't regret my decision to see the world and get married later in life.
Post a Comment